15 Charts, Graphs, and Infographics That Will Make You Smarter About Food

It’s been shown that 65% of humans are visual learners, and to many us, written percentages and data are little more than gibberish.

For example, we may read that people purchased $400 million of coconut water last year and not think much of it. But the mind-blowing-ness of this fact only hits home when we see the data in the form of a fancy colored graph that illustrates coconut-water sales every year since 2004, when people purchased close to nothing.

Thankfully, the Internet has no shortage of infographics and charts, and absorbing eye-opening data has never been easier. Ever wondered how generous people in your state are when it comes to tipping? There’s a chart for that. Or how long you have to work to earn enough money for a beer? There’s an infographic for that, too.

To bolster your small-talk arsenal of revealing facts and figures, we’ve rounded up 15 of the most interesting food-related charts, graphs, and infographics. All of them neatly summarize huge amounts of information related to the how, why, and what of eating and drinking in the U.S. and beyond.

American kids see more than 250 McDonald's ads per year.

Source:Business InsiderWhat it shows: The food industry spends $1.8 billion per year in the U.S. on marketing targeted at young people, and an overwhelming majority of these ads are for fatty, calorie-packed, sugar- and sodium-rich foods. Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity took a look at trends in advertising and found out that the average American child saw more than 1,000 fast food ads in 2012. Of the thousands, a couple of hundred came from McDonald's alone; the Golden Arches' ads reach kids between the ages of 2-11 more than twice as much as its competitors in the U.S.

The French drink more whiskey than Americans do.

Source:QuartzWhat it shows: Americans, bow your heads in shame, because according to data collected by Quartz , the U.S. ranks No. 3 in terms of per capita whiskey consumption. Who gets to brag about being home to the world's biggest whiskey drinkers? France. While Americans drink an average of 1.77 liters of whiskey per capita, the French down an imppresive 2.15 liters. Step your game up, USA.
Photo: Quartz

Manhattan's top 10% of restaurant spenders spend an average of $2,247 every month eating out.

Source:Fast CompanyWhat it shows: The financial site Bundle provided Co.Design with infographics that take a look at how much New Yorkers drop on average while eating out. Upper East Siders spend more than any group of Manhattanites—an average of $2,247 every month eating out, which amounts to $26,964 a year. San Franciscans, in comparison, spend an average of about $800 on food and eating out.
Photo: Fast Co.

13.4 hours of work will get you a beer in Bangladesh, while it takes 12 minutes to earn one in Puerto Rico.

Source:QuartzWhat it shows: If you've ever wondered what a day's work will get you in beers, Quartz's comprehensive Beer Index has the information you're looking for. By combining data of average prices of domestic draft beer in different countries with the minimum monthly wage, Quartz developed an indicator that tells us that it's time to move to Puerto Rico, where you only have to work for 12 minutes to score a cold one. Meanwhile, it takes more than half a day to gather enough money for a pint in the country of Georgia.

Hot sauce market in the U.S. has grown 150% since 2000.

Source:QuartzWhat it shows: Quartz has declared that "hot sauce is having more than just a moment; it's having a decade." Using data from Euromonitor, Quartz discovered that the market for fiery sauces in the U.S. has grown by 150% since 2000, more than BBQ sauce, ketchup, mayonnaise, and mustard combined. Let that sink in. What's behind this craze? The rising immigrant population, as well as a growth in the popularity of hot wings. Americans now eat some 25 billion chicken wings per year.

At an average 17% per bill, Alaskans are the nation's most generous tippers.

Source:QuartzWhat it shows: While New Yorkers continuously bitch about hefty tipping standards, it looks like Alaskans drop the most gratuity, and generally leave behind a 17% tip, as opposed to 15.8% for New Yorkers. Quartz measured tens of millions of Square transactions across the U.S. to reveal that the most penny-pinching state of all is Delaware: Not only do customers tip the lowest at 14%, but Delaware is also home to the lowest percentage of tippers—only 37.9% leave anything at all.
Click the image below for a full-size view of the chart:
Photo: Quartz

Consumers spent $400 million on the top three brands of coconut water last year.

Source:QuartzWhat it shows: In a very short amount of time, coconut water became of the trendiest packaged drinks on supermarket shelves. It's so popular that the UN Food & Agriculture Organization warned that the global demand for coconut products is too much for Asia's production centers to keep up with. Turns out Madonna's investment in Vita Coco was a wise one.

U.S. restaurant breakfast traffic increased 3% in 2013.

Source:Business InsiderWhat it shows: Restaurants are filling up during the wee hours of the morning, and fast-food competition is largely responsible for the 3% early-morning traffic increase in 2013. Taco Bell recently introduced the waffle taco, McDonald's started to look into pastries, and Starbucks expanded its breakfast menu. According to a study done by the NPD Group, 80% of total restaurant morning meals come from fast-food outlets, which showed the strongest increase (about 4%) in breakfast visits compared to previous years. Morning meal visits to midscale and family dining restaurants, on the other hand, declined by 3%.

The cheapest VPN margherita pizzas in the U.S. are from Kentucky.

Source:EaterWhat it shows: Eater investigated pizza prices across the U.S. to find that the cheapest Verace Pizza Napoletana margherita pizzas are found in Kentucky, where a whole pie can be purchased for an average price of $8.90. And where's home to the most expensive pizza? You guessed it: New York City, where pizzas are generally priced at $16 per pie. When combining the prices at 73 VPN-certified pizzerias total in the US, Eater discovered that the average price of VPN pizzas in the U.S. is $13.21.

South Koreans drink more liquor than the British, Russians, and Americans combined.

Source:QuartzWhat it shows: For those of you who point and laugh at the alcohol-induced rosy cheeks of your Asian friends: Quit it. A study done by Euromonitor exposed that our South Korean friends drink an average of 13.7 shots a week, more than double the amount that Russians gulp down. And where do Americans stand? Tenth place, at an embarassing 3.3 shots a week. Womp womp. According to Quartz, the Korean love for soju is the reason why South Korea is unparalleled in its liquor consumption. On the other hand, the study focuses on spirits, which explains why beer-loving countries such as Austria and Belgium rank a lot lower than one would expect.

Americans are spending less of their income on food than people in any other country.

Source:Business WeekWhat it shows: Bloomberg revealed that in 1984, U.S. households spent 16.8% of their annual post-tax income on food, while in 2011, that percentage decreased to 11.2%—half as much as households in France, and one-fourth of those in India. Why this decrease? Food is getting cheaper relative to incomes in countries where incomes are rising. According to the detailed chart, households spent 0.16% of their income for 27 dozen eggs in the '80s, while people could spend 0.08% for 28 dozen eggs in 2011. In addition to lower food prices, Americans are also spending more time eating, whether at a restaurant or in other people's homes.
Photo: Business Week

Insects provide similar per-pound levels of fat and protein as conventional meats.

Source:VoxWhat it shows: The UN recently advocated eating insects, and for good reason. Raising creepy crawlies is a lot more environmentally friendly than raising cows, pigs, or chickens, and eating them will fill you with similar levels of fat and protein as conventional meats. Insects also have much higher levels of nutrients like calcium, iron, and zinc, since we eat them whole, exoskeletons and all.

Google searches for gluten-free and umami have increased by more than 80% since 2004.

Source:Matt MaldreWhat it shows: When it comes to food trends and the Internet, all things gluten-free and umami are having a moment, while vegetarian recipes have dipped in popularity. A chart created by Matt Maldre takes a look at food trends in the past 10 years, comparing the March 2004 and March 2014 rankings of Forbes's recently-released list of 14 food trends. While you may have thought that buffalo wings were so 2004, they're actually still hot at the moment, and search popularity has increased by more than 80%. We wonder if that has anything to do with news stories about buffalo-wing shortages and price hikes.

Countries that spend the least time eating food also have the highest obesity rates.

Source:The AtlanticWhat it shows: The New York Timesplotted the percentage of international populations with BMIs greater than 30 against the minutes people spent eating per day. It found that countries that spent less time eating were home to the highest obesity rates in the world. The chart reveals an interesting relationship between fatter countries and fast-food proliferation. By drawing a horizontal line under Canada to isolate the countries with high obesity rates, you'll see that four of the countries—the U.S., New Zealand, Australia, and Canada—have the most McDonald's per capita in the world.

Women chefs made up 28% of the 2014 James Beard Award finalists.

Source:EaterWhat it shows: In light of the on-going conversation about whether professional kitchens are still a boys' club, Eater took a look at the 2014 James Beard Award finalists and did some serious number crunching to reveal that women chefs made up 28% of the finalists, the highest percentage since 2009. To clearly compare 2014's numbers to previous years, Eater put this year's data up against a five-year average (from 2009 to 2013). The results? The percentage of female Best Chef finalists was above average in every category except for three. And this week, we found out that the percentage of female winners was up to 38% this year.

Latest News

Now Trending

FIRST WE FEAST participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means FIRST WE FEAST gets paid commissions on purchases made through our links to retailer sites. Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive.